Thanks to Linsey Smith and BBC News Online for the Headline
Inevitably the failures of the ‘Early release’ scheme will hit the headlines. Already there have been some people who have returned to prison, for “shoplifting”, “drunk and disorderly” , “fraud” and worryingly “domestic violence”.
Those are a small but key percentage of those released on the 1st October this year. The Headlines will not focus on the prisoners who perhaps had family or a support system in place and who do not reoffend. They are the success stories .
Among the reoffenders who are back in jail are people who didn’t want to leave jail in the first place, three meals a day, warmth and perhaps a bit of company is what they saw “prison” to be.
No doubt the statistics will be produced in a year to say the percentage of reoffenders was and a comparison done with how much the Police were able to make “new arrests” on the basis that there would be a place in Prison for them when the case was prosecuted successfully. The Government’s answer to making the streets safer is that the “new arrests” are more a danger to the public than the “early release prisoners”.
It’s early days on “early release”, but where a serious crime is involved the Headlines will not forgive the “error in judgement” of releasing a prisoner onto the streets to do harm, however, it’s unlikely that the good behaviour of those who having been released and who are getting on with their lives lawfully will be highlighted.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading.
